


Slipping Reality

by samariumwriting



Category: Xenoblade Chronicles
Genre: Angst, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Optimistic Ending, Valak Mountain (Xenoblade Chronicles), post-mechonis core
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-11
Updated: 2020-07-11
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:01:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25201339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/samariumwriting/pseuds/samariumwriting
Summary: When it feels like everything is crumbling, Shulk goes back to where it all began. Reyn comes along to help put things back together.
Relationships: Reyn & Shulk (Xenoblade Chronicles)
Comments: 17
Kudos: 58





	Slipping Reality

**Author's Note:**

> Ty to the Xenoblade discord server I'm in that spurred me on to finish this with their Delicious Shulk Angst  
> This fic gets a lil bit heavy! If that's not your thing then please dip out if it gets too much
> 
> Also you can read this fic as shippy if that's your thing! Regardless, please enjoy :)

Reyn hunched closer in on himself to brace against the wind. The snow continued to pelt down, obscuring his vision with a constant sheet of white. If there was daylight, Reyn would definitely have been lost already. As it was, Ose Tower formed a pillar of light up ahead, glowing blue against the night sky.

He was sure that was where Shulk had gone. There was nowhere else here with any kind of decent shelter, and the thought of him disappearing into the snowy wastes below…

Reyn shook his head. It didn’t bear thinking about, so he wasn’t going to. He just had to press on and find his missing friend before the unthinkable came to pass.

Besides, Shulk shouldn’t be alone right now. That was clear as anything. So Reyn pressed on, his boots struggling against the thick snow beneath him. It felt like it took an age, but eventually the tower loomed ever closer and Reyn was able to make out the entrance practically carved out in the ice.

There wasn’t much inside, so it didn’t take Reyn long to find exactly what he was looking for. At the end of the small chamber, underneath the pedestal...Shulk. Reyn let out a shaky sigh when he saw the way his chest rose and fell. Still alive.

“Shulk?” he called quietly. Shulk didn’t move, but his eyes opened; he wasn’t asleep. That was a good sign too. “You doing alright?”

Still, Shulk didn’t move. His lips were blue, his gaze unfocused. Reyn felt something twist in his chest, something painful. He took a couple deep breaths to steady himself and closed the distance between them, his heart racing for a reason he couldn’t quite understand.

“I’m gonna help you up,” he decided, crouching down next to Shulk’s still form. Shulk blinked, but didn’t refuse. Didn’t say a word. Reyn took that as assent— what else was he meant to think? —and hooked one arm under him to help him to his feet.

No use; Shulk’s legs buckled underneath him, not responding to the ground beneath his feet. Reyn grimaced. He had no idea how long Shulk had been here - he’d volunteered to grab something from the western edge of Makna Forest, and it wasn’t until night fell that they realised something had gone wrong.

Either way, he was practically frozen solid and definitely not completely present. Knowing they had to get out of this place, Reyn gathered Shulk up into his arms (had Shulk always felt this small and light? His body was cold and stiff against him, and it only solidified his fear that he was too late).

Where they needed to go was obvious. Shulk needed to warm up, but not too fast, so Reyn carried him up to where heat bubbled under the water. Getting wet and having to trek all the way back up the mountain was the last thing they needed, though, so Reyn set Shulk down at the water’s edge and hoped that this would work with warming him up a little.

“Your feet are probably frozen,” Reyn said. He knew his were. Shulk blinked at him, his gaze still vacant. As if there was nothing there. It was all too similar to seeing him lifeless in the Junks medical bay, with all of them unsure if he would ever wake again. “If I pull your boots off, could you put your feet in the water? It’ll be warm.”

A pause. For a moment, only the wind howled around them, and Reyn thought that Shulk simply wouldn’t respond. Then, finally, he nodded, and Reyn felt just a little of the tension ease from his shoulders.

Tentatively, he unlaced Shulk’s boots and pulled them from his feet, setting them down just next to him. Finally, Shulk moved, shifting to dip his feet in the water. He shuddered, but it was a reaction and that was good enough for Reyn.

For a while, they just sat there, Reyn watching carefully as a little colour returned to Shulk’s face. Shulk was alive and he was probably going to be okay. With a little more time, they could head back to Frontier Village - they might even make it back before midday. But before that...

“If you have something you need to say, I’m here,” Reyn said. He didn’t know what had happened, or why Shulk had walked all the way here to do whatever this was, but he didn’t need to know. Not so long as Shulk could come out the other side.

It was a long time before Shulk spoke, but when he did it felt like Reyn’s air had been cut off. "I'm not real, Reyn."

"Course you're real," he replied immediately. Beyond that, he didn't know quite how to react. Did he sling an arm around Shulk's form and ground him? Or would that only leave Shulk drawing further into himself? It was hard to know.

Everything had changed so quickly. If he was Reyn, seventeen years old and a Colony 9 Defence Force trainee, he would wrap his arms around Shulk until he could drown the feeling out. He'd give Shulk some time and then promise to give whatever had caused his feelings a swift talking to with his fists.

But he wasn't Reyn, seventeen year old Defence Force trainee. And Shulk wasn't a seventeen year old apprentice weapons researcher who'd been yelled at by someone who didn't get him. They were different people now. Shulk was...

But that was the problem, wasn't it? Shulk felt different. Reyn felt everything had changed, and that his old methods wouldn't work in cheering his friend up anymore. Where they went from here was impossible to know, and that was… Reyn didn’t scare easily, but the thought of it terrified him.

“How do I live, Reyn?” Shulk’s voice was so fragile. It hurt even to hear it. “How am I meant to live when I’ve never even been alive?”

As he spoke, his words cut off into a sob. Reyn was at a loss as to what to do. He didn’t have the skill to argue Shulk out of the corner he’d reasoned himself into. All he could do was open his arms and let Shulk bury his face in his shoulder, muffling the sound of his sobs.

Reyn rubbed Shulk’s back, attempting what he hoped was a soothing gesture. Slow circles, steady breathing. It would have to be enough, because Reyn had nothing else to offer.

Eventually, Shulk drew away, his eyes rimmed with red and his face puffy. “I’m sorry,” he said, his gaze downcast. “Of all the things to get myself caught up in, it shouldn’t have been this.”

“Rubbish,” Reyn said, and Shulk’s eyes met his, something akin to surprise forming on his face. “You nearly died, Shulk! You sorta did. I think you’re allowed to be a bit torn up about it.”

“I guess,” Shulk said, and Reyn nearly smiled at the sound of life returning to his voice. The spark he recognised as completely, definitely Shulk. No trace of a god’s mockery of his oldest friend. “I’m sorry anyway. For worrying you.”

“It’s okay,” Reyn said. “Just don’t do it again, alright? You know the drill. Next time you feel like that, you-”

“I tell you,” Shulk finished, and that time Reyn’s smile broke through. Shulk’s returning one was small, muted, but it was there. “Got it.”

“Good,” Reyn said. He looked up at the sky, the deep blue of night fading into dawn. He slung an arm around Shulk’s shoulders and pulled him closer again. “It’s gonna be okay, Shulk. Everything’s going to be okay.”

**Author's Note:**

> Tysm for reading! Xenoblade fandom....smol, so if you enjoyed this a comment means the world. I also have a twitter @samariumwriting where I talk more about my fics!


End file.
